Category: Africa

Maine: The go-to state for immigrant marriage fraud, etc. etc. etc.

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What happened to Maine?  First we learned it is attracting hordes of Somali welfare moochers, then phony asylum-seeker schemers and now marriage fraudsters.

The word must be all over Africa—get to Maine!

Rashid Kakande hatched the marriage fraud scheme

Busted!  The Bangor Daily News reports that it is (was) one of the most sophisticated marriage fraud rings in the country.  And, on top of the marriage fraud, the cheats have gone one step further and claimed fake spousal abuse to assure they get to stay in the good ol’ USA (land of suckers!).

Editor’s plea to readers:  We would love to approve your comments, but you must keep them free of foul language.  We have had a couple lately (one from Maine) that are so filled with certain unnecessary words that we can’t post them.  I know you are frustrated, but you can say it without cursing and threatening.

Bangor Daily News (Hat tip:  crime sleuth ‘pungentpeppers’):

BANGOR, Maine — One of the country’s most sophisticated marriage fraud schemes officially ended Tuesday when a federal judge sentenced the last defendant to a year in prison.

Margaret Kimani, 30, of Worcester, Mass., was one of 28 defendants convicted in Maine of being part of a scam that paid American citizens living in Maine to wed African immigrants so they could more easily obtain permanent residency status, known as a green card, and achieve citizenship more easily, Maine’s U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said at a press conference after the sentencing.

“America’s legal immigration system is not for sale and we will move aggressively against those who willfully compromise the integrity of that system simply to enrich themselves,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, whose office headed the investigation that led to the prosecutions.

“HSI’s message is very simple,” he said at the press conference. “U.S. citizenship is not for sale and there are consequences for those who commit marriage fraud. If you commit marriage fraud, there isn’t going to be a honeymoon.”

The investigation was launched in 2005 and identified more than 40 sham marriages in the Lewiston/Auburn and Newport areas between U.S. citizens in Maine and nationals from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Cameroon. Prosecutions began in 2010.

There is more.  Read the rest of the tortured tale.

Our extensive Maine archive is here.   Lewiston, Maine has produced many stories all by itself, click here for more on Lewiston.

Obama’s Aunt Zeituni dies; subject of infamous asylum case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Anyone who had read Obama’s and Bill Ayers’ book, ‘Dreams from my father,’ knew that Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, was in the US somewhere when he claimed not to know in 2008.

 

Obama’s Aunt Zeituni dead at 61.  Josh Reynolds/AP/2009

 

She had been ordered deported in 2004, but in a much publicized court case, she was granted asylum in 2010. 

Keep in mind that her home country of Kenya is not one of the top places in Africa people claim asylum from, it is a stable country (Well, except for the Somali agitators and terrorists. I doubt she told the court she was running from Somalis!).  All of our coverage on Aunt Zeituni is here.

Aunt Zeituni died on Monday in a rehab center in Boston.

I wonder if the Obama’s will attend her funeral.  Aunt Zeituni had complained in 2009 that her famous nephew didn’t invite her to family gatherings.  That snub and the apparent disregard for the “brother in a hut” in Kenya are strange actions indeed for our supposedly good-hearted young President.

From the Boston Globe (Hat tip:  Judy):

President Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who won asylum in 2010 after living illegally in Boston for several years, died on Monday night in a nursing home in the city, her legal team said.

The law office of Margaret W. Wong, one of Onyango’s immigration lawyers, confirmed on Tuesday that she died the night before in her sleep at the Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation Harborlights facility in South Boston.

Onyango, 61, had taken ill in January and suffered from breast cancer and respiratory problems, Wong and a relative said.

[….]

The White House had no comment on Onyango’s passing. She was a native of Kenya and moved to South Boston in 2000, Wong’s office said. She was the half-sister of Obama’s late father.

[….]

Wong’s office said that Onyango was denied asylum in 2004 and nearly deported. Her case was leaked to the press during Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

[….]

Onyango, whom the president called Auntie Zeituni in one of his books, was ordered to leave the country in 2003, but she stayed. Later that year, she tried to stay again. But she lost the appeal, and an immigration judge ordered her deported in October 2004.

Instead, Onyango remained in Boston and lived in state and federal public housing. Critics have denounced her for defying deportation and for living in public housing while scores of families are on waiting lists.

Her lawyers successfully argued to reopen her case, and she was granted asylum in 2010.

In 2011, Zeituni’s brother Omar was discovered (drunk driving) living on the US taxpayers in Boston as well, and subsequently granted asylum.  Here is our archive on Uncle Omar.  See especially, Obama lies!

If you would like to learn more about the Obama ‘family’ tree—a fantastic book on the old man (Barack Sr.) is Globe reporter Sally Jacobs’ ‘The other Barack…..’   He was a creep, a cad, a liar and more.

Minnesota: East Africans jumping into American political system

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Photo by John Cross: Mustafa Jamale, an aide to U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, speaks Monday at Minnesota State University during a panel talk on political activism in East African communities.

That is the subject of a panel discussion held this week at Minnesota State University.

From Mankato Free Press (emphasis is mine):

MANKATO — For a time, Somalis in Minnesota had something of a suitcase mentality as many wondered if their time here was temporary, said Hashi Shafi of Minneapolis.

For that reason, and because it was something of a foreign concept, many people didn’t participate in American democracy.

“To unpack our suitcases takes time,” said Shafi, director of a civic education nonprofit in Minneapolis.

But unpack they have, as evidenced by the Somalis who are organizing their communities politically.

Shafi and two other East Africa natives visited Minnesota State University Monday for a panel discussion on political activism among Somali and Ethiopian immigrants.

 It is very difficult to find population numbers for Somalis in the US now, so this next bit of information is useful:

There are an estimated 100,000 Somalis and 30,000 Ethiopians in Minnesota.

Read it all by clicking here.

New readers might wish to visit this older post—Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?—still one of our most-read posts at RRW.   Guess who resettled the Somalis in Minnesota?  If you guessed any one of these, you are right:   US Conference of Catholic Bishops/Catholic Charities, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and World Relief (evangelicals)!

Iowa: Refugee family of 12 gets “Habitat for Humanity” house

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers, this must mean good news for Iowa—-the state has no more American citizens in poverty! 

Just kidding of course, but honestly the average American reads a story like this one and asks:  What about our own poor people?

From AP at the Houston Chronicle (hat tip: Joanne):

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The war is long behind them, as are their days living in forests and refugee campus, but life for Abdineko Mausa and Andjela Uredi’s family of 12 remains a difficult one.

For nearly two years, the Congolese family — with 10 children ranging between 2 months to 21 — have lived elbow-to-elbow in a tiny Johnson County apartment.

[….]

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports (http://icp-c.com/1nWNHCV ) that will change this fall, however, when the family moves into a newly built six-bedroom, two-bathroom home — the largest ever constructed by Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity. The Iowa City-based organization has put nearly 100 families in homes over the past two decades — including many refugees — but likely none as large as Mausa and Uredi’s family.

The article then gives readers some facts on the Iowa refugee program.  Not mentioned here, however, was the big flood of Bosnians Bill Clinton sent to Iowa for his meatpacking buddies.

Through the United Nations Refugee Agency, the family came to Fort Worth, Texas, in 2010. They eventually relocated to eastern Iowa, where they’ve lived since 2012. Mausa has a job on a factory line through a local staffing service, and they rely on government help, as well as local charities, to get by. The family’s three youngest children were born in the U.S., where Mausa and Uredi are currently working toward citizenship.

John Wilken, bureau chief for Iowa’s Bureau of Refugee Services, estimates that more than 50,000 refugees have settled in Iowa since the state’s program began in 1975. That number, however, doesn’t include refugees who have since left the state, or who — like Mausa’s family — are considered secondary migrants because they previously lived in another state.

Over the past five fiscal years ending in 2013, 2,580 refugees settled in Iowa, though just 31 were from the Congo. In recent years, the Burmese have been the top refugee group arriving in Iowa, followed by the Bhutanese and Iraqis.

Wilken said for refugee families, finding housing during the recession and the years after has been doubly difficult.

Yup, but they keep bringing them in anyway!

I wonder do Gillette and Casper, Wyoming have big inexpensive apartments and houses for rent?

 

San Jose refugee workshop: depression keeps refugees from getting/keeping jobs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, that makes their kids ashamed of them.  A psychiatrist will facilitate workshop to help parents cope.

Where is psychiatrist Song? Search the photo—she is crouching among the kids.

From the San Francisco Examiner (Hat tip: Joanne):

The Immigrant/Refugee Parent Project, a collaborative effort by several immigrant groups, will host a workshop in San Jose later this month to allow parents from various immigrant communities to share their challenges raising children in the United States.

The parents, many of whom have fled wars and persecution in their home countries, will have the opportunity to discuss their experiences, ask questions, meet new people and sample each other’s cooking.

Launched last year, the program is facilitated by adult/child psychiatrist Suzan Song…

No job=no respect:

Although the parents come from diverse cultures, Song noted their concerns are often remarkably similar. One common challenge is how children tend to more easily adjust to local cultures and learn English faster than their parents. This can lead to kids shaming their parents for not being more American, Song noted, adding that some parents say being unemployed makes it hard to command their children’s respect.

Song said while the parents are generally eager to find work, many refugees suffer from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can make it difficult to get and keep a job. Conflicting social behaviors can be another source of friction.  [Like girls not wanting to wear the hijab!—ed]

At least these kids are ashamed (so far) with non-working parents living off the US taxpayer, unlike generations of inner-city kids who go on to lifelong dependence on welfare themselves—and pass it down to their offspring!

Keeping these refugee kids ashamed might in fact be their ticket to upward mobility!